A survey of the educational system of the Philippine islands by the Board of educational survey, created under acts 3162 and 3196 of the Philippine Legislature.

SECONDARY EDUCATION

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follows that in its general organization the present public-school system
will remain essentially unchanged. This system consists of a primary
school of four years, an intermediate school of three years, and a
secondary school of four years. Although the lines between the different divisions of the system are not always sharply drawn, it is substantially as described.
Since the secondary school is superimposed upon the intermediate
school, a word should be said regarding this lower institution. Its
function should be that of carrying on the work of the primary school
in the mastery of the tools of knowledge and of providing a form of
instruction that will take into account the health, vocational, recreational,
and civic needs of the great masses of the population. Until the economic system has become more efficient and wealth has appreciably
increased, the Philippines must be content with an education which
for a majority of the people does not go beyond this intermediate
school. Its curriculum should, therefore, show a certain amount of
differentiation. There should be curricula in which agriculture, the
trades, and the household arts are emphasized. There should also be
some provision, through a curriculum somewhat more academic in character, for a small group of pupils who are to enter the academic high
school. But all of these curricula would have much in common.
Above the intermediate school, there should be organized for each
province or region a system of differentiated secondary schools. The
degree and nature of this differentiation should be determined for the
most part by the nature and complexity of the economic life and the
density of population. In some of the smaller and less populous provinces, there possibly should be only a single high school, but the various
types of schools should be so situated in the neighboring provinces as
to make the different forms of secondary education reasonably accessible to the children of every province. Such an ideal is, perhaps, not
immediately attainable, but it should supply the guiding principle in the
development of the secondary-school system.
These schools should be of three main types-rural, normal, and
academic. The first would fit for living in the rural community, the
second would train teachers for the elementary schools, and the third
would prepare for college and the professions. In addition there
should be a considerable number of trade schools and a few commercial
schools of secondary grade The former should be established in the
cities and larger municipalities which have developed or are developing
industrial interests; the latter should be organized only in the more important commercial centers. Household arts courses for the girls should
be offered in the agricultural schools in rural areas, in the industrial
schools in urban communities, and to a limited extent even in the